Kim Jong-un’s aides seen ‘erasing DNA traces’ after meeting with Putin in Beijing | Watch

Kim Jong Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Beijing for the 80th anniversary of China’s victory celebrations took an unusual turn when his aides hurried to sanitize everything he had touched following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Footage circulating online shows Kim’s staff meticulously wiping down his seat and other items, a scene that resembled a crime drama more than standard diplomatic protocol.

The chair's backrest was polished, its armrests wiped, and even the side table cleaned. His drinking glass was taken away on a tray.

The staff accompanying the North Korean leader meticulously erased all traces of Kim's presence.

They took the glass he drank from, wiped down the chair's upholstery, and cleaned the parts of the furniture the Korean leader had touched. pic.twitter.com/JOXVxg04Ym — Russian Market (@runews) September 3, 2025

"After the negotiations, the staff accompanying the head of the DPRK carefully destroyed all traces of Kim's presence," Russian journalist Alexander Yunashev reported on his channel Yunashev Live. "They took away the glass from which he drank, wiped the upholstery of the chair, and those parts of the furniture that the Korean leader touched."

Kim Jong Un reportedly brought his own toilet on the green train to Beijing to prevent health details from being exposed, according to Japan’s Nikkei, citing South Korean and Japanese intelligence.

"Such measures are standard protocol since the era of Kim's predecessor, his father Kim Jong Il," said Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert with the U.S.-based Stimson Center.

"The special toilet and the requisite garbage bags of detritus, waste, and cigarette butts are so that a foreign intelligence agency, even a friendly one, does not acquire a sample and test it," Madden further added.

"It would provide insight into any medical conditions affecting Kim Jong Un. This can include hair and skin tags," he said.